Consumer Payments Now Made Easy, Thanks to the Launch of Ripple Blockchain Payment App in Japan

Ripple’s blockchain technology seems to be taking over and most businesses are applauding its workability. This explains the recent development in Japan where banks have seen the need to embrace this technology to retain consumer payments.

At Least 61 banks Involved in the Launch

According to an announcement made on Tuesday, a consortium of 61 Japanese banks is gearing up for the launch of the app that will see consumers make use of the Ripple technology for their payments. This development will mean that these banks will be in a position to settle domestic transactions instantly using this app, now called “MoneyTap”.

Even More Domestic Transfers Expected

The launch of this app means that users can now make even more domestic money transfer transactions all through the day, seven days a week. Notably, this journey started way back in November 2016. This is when, through the leadership of SBI Ripple Asia, a consortium of about 42 banks in Japan started a campaign to come up with workable blockchain solutions for the sake of the industry.

Better, Faster, More Convenient

Now, with about 61 banks warming up to the idea, this makes well over 80 percent of Japan’s banking assets. With just a phone number, QR code and bank account number, any customer from any of the consortium’s banks can make instant domestic payments. This is by far a more convenient and fastesr process compared with what has been happening with conventional bank transfers.

Takashi Okita, the CEO of SBI Ripple Asia believes that this will spur the market and increase competition, and thus benefit the consumers in the end.

Together with the trust, reliability and reach of the bank consortium, we can remove friction from payments and create a faster, safer, and more efficient domestic payments experience for our customers.

Three Pioneer Banks Selected

At the launch, three members of the consortium will be selected to go live with the app. They are Sugura Bank, Sumishin Bank and Resona Bank. This will then be followed by a systematic roll-out for each of the remaining 59 banks in the consortium.

The recent development is a representation of the first worthy application with regards to consumer-ended retail payments using blockchain by SBI Ripple Asia. With this blockchain payment app in place, the industry is set to become even more vibrant, especially after another money transfer pilot that also occurred successfully a few years ago.